Shirt Stories: Lionel Perez
United 2-0 Oxford, 25 March 2000
Welcome to the fourth article in our ‘Shirt Stories’ series by United shirt collector and UTAS writer Owen Kiernan. In each piece he’ll be looking at some of the most important shirts from Cambridge United’s history and telling the stories of the legendary amber and black players through the threads they were wearing.
You can go back through the series which so far includes Harrison Dunk, Martin Butler and Wes Hoolahan. The next looks at a charismatic legendary goalkeeper. If you haven’t listened yet, there’s a UTAS Meets episode with Lionel on the podcast feed, chatting about his whole career and time at United.
Shirt Stories: Lionel Perez, Cambridge 2-0 Oxford, 25 March 2000
Cambridge vs Oxford is better known outside of football for the Boat Race, but in March 2000 there was as much water on the Abbey pitch as there was on the Thames as United took on Oxford in a relegation six-pointer. With life in Division Two (modern-day League One) proving tough, and with the U’s sitting in the bottom four after a draw away at Luton, manager Roy McFarland saw things go from bad to worse as first-choice goalkeeper Shaun Marshall pulled up injured. Arjan van Heusden found himself out of favour after conceding one too many clangers earlier in the season, and Carlisle’s iconic saviour Jimmy Glass had already left the club after a short term loan expired.
With Division Two status on the line just one season after winning promotion, McFarland was on the lookout for a new goalie, and having had an approach for former Everton & Wales keeper Neville Southall turned down, it was Newcastle’s Lionel Perez who signed on the dotted line.
Perez was familiar to many football fans from his time at Sunderland, having joined the Mackems in 1996/97, replacing Tony Coton between the sticks as they were relegated from the Premier League. His next season on Wearside was more successful, as Sunderland looked for an immediate return to the top tier, eventually finishing third, and setting up a Playoff Final with Charlton Athletic. It was the London side who triumphed on penalties after a thrilling 4-4 draw (in part due to some erratic goalkeeping from the Frenchman) at Wembley.
Lionel became one of the few players to move from Sunderland to Newcastle after this, however he never made an appearance for the Magpies, and found himself loaned out to Scunthorpe in the 1999/00 season, where he contributed to a 3-1 win for the Iron at the Abbey, putting in a strong performance that clearly impressed McFarland.
Perez was welcomed with open arms by the Abbey faithful, his pedigree and flamboyance not of the usual type of footballer to turn up in CB5. That flamboyance became immediately apparent as he did not line up in our usual goalkeeper shirt, but instead in this one-off bright green number, unusually for the time lacking any sort of padding like our regular keepers jersey. Hastily printed with his name and the number 24, but without any Nationwide league sleeve patches, he stood out like a breath of fresh air.
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The game itself took place in atrocious conditions, a hailstorm shortly before kickoff leaving large puddles of water on the pitch. The conditions played into United’s hands, and after just eight minutes Trevor Benjamin put the U’s ahead. Just before the half-time whistle a Phil Whelan backpass stopped dead in a puddle, and John Hansen was there to nip in and double United’s lead. The rest of the game saw Oxford dominate, but couldn’t find a way through. United didn’t even manage a shot in the second half, but the three points lifted us out of the relegation zone to 19th.
A loss to Oldham was followed by an emphatic win against Bury, and an eighth consecutive game with a goal for Trevor Benjamin saw a point gained at home to Bristol Rovers. With five games left United were still 19th, out of the relegation zone and four points clear of Cardiff. A 4-0 victory at Ninian Park, in which John Taylor scored his 100th goal for the club as part of a hat-trick, saw United put some breathing space between them and the drop, and despite a heavy loss to Colchester the following week, a shock 2-0 win against Champions Preston saw safety confirmed with just two games remaining. Despite Lionel’s efforts United conceded a further 9 goals that season, ending with the worst defence in the league, but staying up was all that mattered.
Following the last game of the season (a 2-1 defeat to Wycombe) Lionel threw his shirt into the Newmarket Road End, landing in the arms of a lucky fan. Thought lost, the shirt eventually resurfaced in 2023, making its way to fellow U’s shirt collector James King, and then onto myself where it takes pride of place in my collection, alongside the shirt Lionel wore in his last game against Tranmere two seasons later, when he was substituted off after missing a penalty (and injuring their goalkeeper).
It’s a common misconception that Lionel always wore a short-sleeved shirt - in all the photos of him he wears what appears to be short sleeves, but this shirt is actually long-sleeved, Lionel simply rolled the sleeves up whilst playing.
It was a surprise when Perez signed for United the following season. His rumoured £8,000 a week wages took a significant cut, but still caused the club to restructure its wage policy. McFarland called the coup ‘the best signing [he] ever made’, although Perez wasn’t able to keep the manager in the job past February 2001 as United lumbered to another 19th place finish under a returning John Beck. Perez endeared himself to the fans even as United continued to struggle in Division Two with his committed, never-say-die attitude. Although there was the odd goalkeeping howler along the way, plus the occasional rush of blood to the head and heart-stopping forays outside of his box, Lionel’s love for the city, club and fanbase was always clear, and he won us more than our fair share of points single-handedly.
After leaving United, Perez moved to Enfield before joining Stevenage, eventually taking up a coaching role there after an injury. He now lives in the South of France. For someone who played alongside the likes of Jonas Axeldal, Steve Slade and John Dreyer, it came as a surprise when Lionel admitted the best player he had played alongside was little-known countryman Zinedine Zidane, back when they were both at Bordeaux. Football eh? It’s a funny old game…
